Five Different Types Of Humour

Written by
Cassie Fairy
—
September 11, 2018

There are so many different genres of humour out there, from anecdotal to wordplay, and everything in between. We’ve decided to do some digging to discover the most popular comedy categories and to identify which of our sock characters suits the style best. What’s your preferred kind of humour? Read on to find out..!

Surreal Surreal humour makes the illogical seem logical, it’s completely random, and it’s the absurdity of the situation that makes it so hilarious. Totally unpredictable, it’s the type of joke that surprises you and makes you yelp with unexpected laughter. If you’ve ever seen Ross Noble go off on a seemingly random – yet equally hilarious – tangent while telling a joke, you’ll know what we mean. As a surrealist artist, Sole-Adore Dali’s sense of humour is naturally upside-down. He understands how to distort reality to draw out the comedy in everyday life and will shock you with his abstract jokes and crazy paintings alike.

Dark Dark comedy is sometimes also known as black comedy or gallows humour. No subject is off limits for dark comedians, no matter how taboo it would be to discuss it in real life. It’s the kind of too-close-to-the-truth joke that makes you wince while you chuckle, and it sometimes makes you feel like you must be a bad person for laughing! ‘The Sockfather’, Don Cottone is the head of the family and is the king of dark comedy. You’ll never quite know whether he’s joking or not, so it’s best to take everything he says seriously, just in case. Nervous laugh optional.

SlapstickIf you’ve ever enjoyed a comedy chase scene, laughed at people slipping on a Youtube video or giggled at Charlie Chaplin trying to escape the lion cage, then slapstick humour is for you. Physical comedy is a huge part of making people laugh, so anything where the performer exaggerates a fall, trips over or sustains an injury (but doesn’t really get hurt) is perfect for making slapstick fans laugh out loud. Mr. Grrrril is the ultimate slapstick character. He thinks he’s a super-slick ninja, but if you’ve seen his YouTube video, you’ll know just how far from the truth this is!

CharacterComedy sketch shows on TV are a hotbed of character humour. Just think of Little Britain and how many different ways those two comedians can make us laugh, just by switching character. No matter how unbelievable a situation is, staying in character is key to creating a great character sketch. Did you know that Commander Awesome has a mild-mannered alter ego? No? That’s because he usually stays in character all the time, which would make him the perfect character comedy performer.

ObservationalThis genre of humour is one that most people will find funny because observational comedy is all about real life. Most stand-up comedians will use stories from their own lives and draw out the humour in the situation. This helps them to connect with the audience and get a ‘knowing’ laugh. Two of our characters are equally observational in nature; Sigmund can’t help but analyse a situation and can always see the funny side, and Stephen Toeking has observed the creation of black holes inside your socks!

So, what sense of humour do YOU have? We hope this blog post has helped you to discover your comedy preferences and perhaps you’ve found a kindred sole… erm, soul in one of our hilarious characters.